Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

She heard that something had happened.

Chapter 74 Everything was part of the plan

Load the bullet, ignite the fuse, and fire.

One round.

They go down to load the ammunition, then switch personnel, and continue firing—another round.

The barking tail spun two swords, one a normal samurai sword, the other a broad nodachi! He let out a furious roar, the snow-white blades sealing off all space and blocking all bullets!

Cut it off!

With a frenzied swing of his sword, Hiobi took a step forward with each swing! The windmill-like blade swept through the crowd of soldiers who were desperately trying to stop him from getting close to Kujo Takayuki. Hiobi slaughtered his way forward, his body covered in blood!

Dual-wielding martial arts from the battlefield! Two days of sunbathing!

The barking tail was born with superhuman strength, and his weapons were two katana. The so-called dual-wielding style requires great strength. He was able to rise to the rank of general because of this battlefield martial arts. He fought his way up and down the ranks, and finally achieved great success!

But at this moment, even dual-wielding couldn't save him.

Or rather, they couldn't save the decapitation strike force.

Because they were not facing a meat grinder-like battlefield, but rows of cold-blooded musketeers.

—The musket unit under the command of the Heavenly Commander.

This was an extremely expensive unit. Firearms had only been around for a few decades, and training a single musketeer cost thirty times more than that of an ordinary foot soldier. The Barbarians were aware that the Heavenly Territory had musketeer units, but these units were generally used as surprise attacks to annihilate the main forces.

How could such a force possibly remain at headquarters?

Just to protect Kujo Takayuki alone?

"General!" someone shouted, drawing his sword and charging in front of him, only to be struck in the chest by a heavy lead bullet, sending a beautiful spray of blood flying.

The barking tail let out a deafening roar; he was enraged and slashed fiercely.

There are over three hundred musketeers here. Based on what I've learned from years of combat, this should be all the musketeer troops Inazuma has. Kujo Takayuki would rather make the difficulties of the frontline soldiers attacking the castle several times greater than allow these troops to stand guard beside him... This kind of war philosophy is something that Kaijima cannot understand.

If Ruka Sango goes to the battlefield and says she wants to leave the most elite troops behind to protect herself, then Uo would only advise her not to go and not to cause trouble for the army.

"Unexpected?" Kujo Takayuki stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm.

Barking's voice was hoarse from shouting in the battles. He didn't want to talk to Kujo Takayuki, but looking around, he saw that his comrades were few and far between, all of them were defeated soldiers.

They didn't lose face; relying on their Evil Eyes, they wiped out more than half of the long-range firepower musketeers. This meant that the shogunate's musketeer force, trained for over a decade, was completely wiped out in one battle. In terms of pure victory, they even came out ahead.

“I have been playing against Coral Palace Ryuka for twenty years. She is weak and I am strong, so she always likes to take risks and make dangerous moves.” Even now, Kujo Takayuki did not move forward because he was worried that the Evil Eye of the Barking Tail would use some unknown means to ambush him. “The reason she humiliated me, besides protecting Shen Liang, was to force me to fight. Kill me, that is her goal.”

Barking Tail finally exhausted himself. He was stabbed in the abdomen with a spear. Exhausted, he turned around and slashed with his knife, but it was dodged. Then, spears pierced him again and again, and blood gushed out.

"I don't understand, what good would killing me do? Do you think killing me would make the shogunate admit defeat?" Kujo Takayuki wondered. "If you kill me, do you think you can win? You don't think you can hold out until the seawater rice harvest... or even if you have food, do you think you can defeat the shogunate?"

"Therefore, the Shogunate will never understand the Coral Palace." The lewd man coughed up blood, his laughter hoarse.

"What do you mean?" Kujo Takayuki asked.

"What do you mean?" Barking Tail was pierced by countless spears, but he still laughed out loud. "Come closer, and I'll tell you."

Kujo Takayuki knew exactly what tricks he was playing, but he didn't care and actually took one step closer and another.

Barktail calculated in his mind, trying his best not to show any ecstatic expression on his face.

He thought I was at my wit's end!

—He thought that even if I had the Evil Eye, I couldn't threaten him anymore!

But he didn't know...

When Kujo Takayuki was finally about five meters away from him, the barking bird finally spoke.

"you……"

Listen attentively to the nine acts of filial piety.

"Damn it!" Barktail roared furiously! He bit down hard and crushed the evil eye that had been hidden under his tongue! His indomitable will prevailed, and terrifying power surged violently outwards from the exploded evil eye!

Blow up!

The greatest use of the Evil Eye's power is to absorb all life force, even abandoning the physical body, by shattering the Evil Eye to achieve the greatest output!

This is pure evil, pure power, capable of annihilating everything within a five-meter radius, including itself and its target! It shatters iron and even gods! This is the last and strongest power that a mortal without the Eye of God can possess!

Kujo Takayuki! Come to hell with me! Don't even think about leaving ashes behind!

Then, with a satisfied smile, he turned into a wisp of smoke.

The soldiers who had surrounded him with spears had no chance to escape and were all sliced ​​into pieces too small to be seen by the raging wind-attribute evil eye. When the dust settled, everyone saw Kujo Takayuki standing there unharmed, expressionless.

“Sigh,” he said, shaking his sleeves, “this is so boring.”

------------

Seeing this scene from behind, Coral Palace Ryuka, who was lying in ambush, felt her heart sink.

She had imagined this scene countless times, but when it actually happened before her eyes, she still didn't know how to face her feelings.

Although they had seen many fallen soldiers, this unit was actually quite special.

They are all veterans who have followed Ruka Sangoya for more than 20 years. When they first joined the army, Ruka Sangoya was still learning to ride horses in the military camp. Many of these veterans are about the same age as Ruka Sangoya, and many of them have watched Ruka Sangoya grow up.

Coral Palace Ryuka knew very well that this was her most trustworthy force. No matter how people's hearts changed, these veterans who had followed her from beginning to end would obey her orders without regard to cost or reason.

Just as the younger generation's leaders, like Goro and Shen Liang, were to Coral Palace Heart Sea, so were these people to Coral Palace Ryuka. Although they were old, as long as they were still there, Coral Palace Ryuka felt as if she were still that carefree sixteen-year-old girl, as if she were still connected to that vibrant era by a kite string.

But now even the last memory of her youth is gone. She had made many plans, even the destruction of this unit, but witnessing it firsthand left her feeling empty.

It's like the kite string from my childhood suddenly snapped.

At that moment, she saw Kujo Takayuki's gaze fixed on her, and she knew she had been exposed, because she hadn't really been hiding anything.

So she stood up, smiled softly, and said to herself.

"it does not matter."

"And I."

Then she drew her sword.

"It's part of the plan."

Chapter Seventy-Five: No War at Sea Goddess

When Shen Liang returned to the Coral Palace, it was noon, and he sensed that something was amiss.

The mansion was empty, and the entire Coral Palace was deserted.

He called out to the little witch several times, but no one in the vast Coral Palace responded.

In daily life, there are many shrine maidens on duty here, but now the Coral Palace's sleeping quarters are spotless, with not a single shrine maiden left behind... even the guards at the gate are gone, as if some force has suddenly erased all traces of humanity from the entire Coral Palace.

Only when Shen Liang stood at the entrance of the palace and looked down at Wanglong Village, seeing the sparse wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys, did he realize that there were still people in this world.

He was a little puzzled.

Immediately afterward came a languid yet alluring female voice from behind him.

"Are you looking for Ruka Sangokami? If nothing unexpected happens, she's currently in Nashiina, fighting a decisive battle against the shogunate."

Shen Liang turned his head and saw a foreign woman, whose figure was even more mature and tall than Coral Palace Liu Ge, turning around behind the screen in the cold and empty bedroom of the current human god priestess. She had a slender waist, high breasts, a black and white trailing dress, a red velvet lady's cloak, and a black veil that looked like a butterfly on her face. Shen Liang recognized this as a mask used for mourning.

widow?

The woman was stunningly beautiful with fair skin, but as beautiful as she was… Shen Liang roughly estimated that this sexy and alluring woman was at least 1.75 meters tall, and to make matters worse, she was wearing delicate high-heeled boots. How to put it…

I feel a bit frustrated.

"you are?"

“Although she told me not to reveal my identity to you, I don’t think it’s necessary to keep our verbal agreement, since you probably won’t see each other again anyway.” The woman looked him over. “Rosalyn, the eighth seat of the Fools of the Winter Kingdom, you can call me ‘Madam’.”

Fools?

Shen Liang knew what the Fools were; they were a notorious spy organization from the Kingdom of Winter that operated across the seven kingdoms!

But he was first drawn to the name.

Rosalyn?

You are the third person identified by the system!

But even Rosalyn is unimportant now. Shen Liang stared at her, his tone turning slightly cold: "What did you mean by 'decisive battle'? Wasn't it supposed to be a peace treaty? How come we're at war again in less than half a month? And a decisive battle at that? Are you out of your mind this winter?"

But the lady did not answer him directly. She glanced at him casually with her icy eyes. "After you left, Coral Palace did a few things. First, it forbade the people of Haiji Island to migrate. Second, it killed all the prisoners and built a mound of corpses to humiliate the shogunate. Third, it disbanded the army and left only the Third Division to fight the shogunate."

With each new story Shen Liang heard, his expression darkened further.

The woman could tell from his expression that he understood, and she smiled with amusement. "Just as I thought, Liu Ge said you and she are the same kind of people... That's right, you understood right away. You two should really be mother and son."

"Forbidding the people of Haiji Island from migrating is to preserve the maximum number of living forces; humiliating the shogunate forces them to fight a decisive battle this winter, directly eliminating the option of handing me over." Shen Liang spoke each word clearly, his face ashen. "Leaving only one division to fight the shogunate is because there's no need for a frontal battlefield, so fewer people die... She's going to launch a surprise attack! She wants to kill Kujo Takayuki!"

The lady applauded.

“I understand why Liu Ge values ​​you so much now. Haiqi Island needs intelligent people, and you are very intelligent. For your age, your insight is already extraordinary.” The woman smiled. “So, what are you going to do?”